[wisb] Re: Of Cuckoos - anecdotes - and eBird
- From: Jesse Ellis <calocitta8@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 28 Jun 2011 13:53:43 -0500
Andy's point is spot on. That is, my anecdotal observations completely jibe
with the ebird data, ergo, they must be right.
Just kidding. His point about eBird is spot on. That said, not only should
you use ebird to check out trends, but please upload data as well! The data
are only worth anything if enough people have contributed. We're getting
over a critical mass for that recently, but please don't assume your
observations are already being counted by others, etc. The more people that
contribute, the better the data!
Once you start trying the View and Explore, you really get a sense for how
eBird is becoming an amazing tool for understanding birds, so definitely
give that a shot.
Andrea's point about the atlas is great, too. Older ebird data are tough to
come by and rarer species are probably underrepresented because birders
aren't hitting every area of the state equally, but the atlas, which was an
attempt at a complete record, might give a better sense of overall
distributions of breeding birds.
Jesse Ellis
On Tue, Jun 28, 2011 at 9:07 AM, Andrea Szymczak
<harrierhawk1@xxxxxxxxxxx>wrote:
> Both eBird and the Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Wisconsin are terrific,
> and in my opinion, *required* resources for anyone seriously interested in
> the birds of our state!
> Thanks for injecting a bit of levity to the topic Andy.
> Andrea Szymczak
> Waukesha, WI
> > Date: Tue, 28 Jun 2011 06:46:04 -0700
> > From: andypaulios@xxxxxxxxx
> > Subject: [wisb] Of Cuckoos - anecdotes - and eBird
> > To: wisbirdn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> >
> > Folks,
> >
> > Hakim's cuckoo e-mail (an my clogged work e-mail asking about the
> potential
> > demise of all birds) all asking what happened to species X has reminded
> me to
> > send out my annual plea to use eBird (ebird.org/WI) to help answer these
> sorts
> > of questions. I think as birders who regularly observe stuff - and we're
> all
> > guilty of taking our somewhat limited anecdotal sightings and translating
> them
> > into a broad hypothesis/truth. Is it a bad year for Cuckoos? Are
> Dickcissels
> > everywhere? How do we control Worm-eating Warblers from taking over the
> forests
> > of SW WI? These are all questions that your combined observations in
> eBird can
> > help us to answer.
> >
> > My advice is to play around with the View and Explore Data Tool to see
> how these
> > species are distributed, how frequently they are found on checklists and
> how
> > their frequency changes from year to year. You can graph the previous
> 4-5 years
> > all in one graph for a species by choosing 2007-2011 and clicking the box
> at the
> > bottom.
> >
> > http://tinyurl.com/3h4o6fs
> >
> > Now, onto Hakim's BBCU question! As you can see from the link above, the
> BBCU
> > graph is a bit messy from eBird. This is expected for a species as
> uncommon and
> > enigmatic as the cuckoo. However, you can see that this year seems to be
> on par
> > with previous - but we seem to have had a spike in late June. Why? Is
> it due
> > to one or two observers? Is it due to a late push of cuckoos? We'll
> just have
> > to get out there and bird more to find out.
> >
> > FYI - It is a GREAT Dickcissel year! http://tinyurl.com/4xwcs6f
> >
> >
> > Andy Paulios
> > Madison, WI
> > ####################
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>
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>
>
--
Jesse Ellis
Post-doctoral Researcher
Dept. of Zoology
University of Wisconsin - Madison
Madison, Dane Co, WI
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